Wondering how to create a or edit a technician? Maybe change an hourly rate? - Here's how
Make sure you have all the Labour Categories needed for the technicians before starting.
See [SAM] - Creating Labour Categories/Rates for further details
Technician Set-up
Go to Maintenance > Technicians
to display the Technician Listing:
At the end of every day & if using Time clocking - Check this listing as it will show you if anyone is still clocked on when they shouldn't be
Copy existing technician
The easiest way to set up a new technician is to use the Copy function, ie if you have an existing technician with the same/similar profile and rates you can copy that technician then check/modify as required on the new technician.
For example - the existing technician David R has the same profile and rates as the technician who has just started.
So highlight the relevant technician then click on the Copy button:
The "Copy Technician as" window displays:
Enter in the new technician's keycode - we suggest either their initials or first name - and also their full name in the Description field:
Then click OK and the confirmation window will display:
Choose Yes to set up the new technician - or No to cancel
The new technician will be added to the Technician Listing and you should check/update their profile and rates as required (more info about profile and rates below)
There are 4 tabs in Technician Maintenance window:
- General
- Profile
- Clocking
- Photo
General
- Keycode - the unique identifier we suggest keeping it simple, eg initial or short name
- Name - hopefully you know this
- Employee No - not 100 % necessary - only used to keep an external systems number
- Type - there are 5 options available here: Technician (mechanics), Supervisor, Apprentice, Groomer & Other
- Note: "Other" technicians will be excluded from Labour reports
- Technician % - how much of the day is the technician spending working on jobs
- This is important for the Diary, working out how full the day is and how productive the technician is.
- Fixed labour Category - Tick if you want to fix the technician to only one labour category
- If ticked it will open a list of Labour Categories
- Mobile - enter if required - this number can be used to text your technician from various areas in SAM
- Not Active - Tick this when you no longer employ this technician and enter their finish date.
More on #5 Above & Productivity Productivity is based on the technician % i.e. if a tech has an 8 hour shift and works 4 hours With 100% entered they are 50% productive With 50% entered they are 100% productiv
Profile
Standard times are entered for each day of the week - this will affect the availability of the technician
Overtime is not entered here unless you ALWAYS give overtime on specific days
It is not necessary to type the time as you see it here.
EG - type "8", then Tab to the next field and 8:00AM is entered
"0830" and 8:30AM is entered
"13" and 1:00PM is entered
Generally shift 2 will be after lunch
Clocking
This is used for Timeclocking
- Technicians set with 100% should always have this ticked
- They will then be forced to either clock onto another job or go onto a non job
- See Labour Categories/Rates for further information on Labour Categories
- This will show what the Technician is clocked onto
- Easy way to clear the technician off a job - used occasionally if a tech is somehow "stuck" on a job and cannot be clocked off through Time Clocking.
NB: This will NOT leave a record on the Job - it will clear it completely
Photo
The photo needs to be saved in a relevant folder in SAM (eg "Tech Photos") then linked up in the Photo tab by clicking on the ellipsis box to the right of the "Photo File" field
and will display in Time Clocking:
Technician Rates - Adding/Updating/Changing
Technicians will only be able to use rates that are entered in the Rates window of their Technician Listing
Highlight the Technician (1) and click on Rates (2)
Add a Rate
Highlight the Technician, then click on Rates then the Insert button:
Click on the dropdown arrow to the right of Category and select the rate you need to add
- Select the Category/Rate
- Enter the COST of the technician - see Real Cost of an Hour for further information.
- Enter the CHARGE to the customer - you can enter in any of the fields - per unit or per hour and either GST exclusive or inclusive and using the Tab key will recalculate the other fields
It is generally easier to enter figures in the Per Hour column - then clicking the Tab key will update the Per Unit figure
Maintain a Rate
There are TWO ways of updating labour rates:
You can use the Mass Update option - see this Knowledge Base article [SAM] Mass update Labour rates
You can update individual technician rates by double clicking or selecting Change on the rate:
- Select the Category/Rate
- Enter the COST of the technician - see Real Cost of an Hour for further information.
- Enter the CHARGE to the customer - you can enter in any of the fields - per unit or per hour and either GST exclusive or inclusive and using the Tab key will recalculate the other fields
It is generally easier to enter figures in the Per Hour column - then clicking the Tab key will update the Per Unit figure
It is STRONGLY recommended that you have a very good understanding of the real cost of your technicians - this isn't just the hourly rate you pay the technician. You need to consider other costs of employing staff
Video
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